Burma, China arrest dissident bloggers

Burma hasn't been much in the news, lately, but things have not gotten any better. Essentially, the violent crackdown on dissidents succeeded. Months ago. And it continues.

This is a seemingly small story, but one of which every political blogger should take notice. From the Associated Press:

Myanmar's junta has stepped up surveillance of the Internet, arresting one blogger who wrote about the stifling of free expression in the military-ruled nation, a media advocacy group said.

The blogger, Nay Myo Latt, was taken into custody in Yangon on Wednesday after writing about the suppression of freedoms following last fall's crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations, Reporters Without Borders said.

Despite international condemnation and pressure following the demonstrations, there is little evidence that the junta is easing its repressive rule or moving closer to reconciliation with pro-democracy forces led by Suu Kyi.

The arrested blogger, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, owns three Internet cafes, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a release seen Thursday.

When I posted the above at DocuDharma, Magnifico, in the comments, pointed to this, from the Guardian:

Chinese state security forces have arrested one of the country's most prominent civil rights activists in an apparent crackdown on dissent ahead of the Olympics.

Hu Jia - who used blogs, webcasts and video to expose human rights abuses - is expected to face charges of inciting subversion of state power, his lawyers said today.

His formal arrest comes after he was seized by police from an apartment in east Beijing on December 27. In the month since, his wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their two-month-old daughter have been prevented from leaving their home or contacting outsiders.

China will present to the world a face of happy happy joy joy, because those who would express anything other will be kept safely hidden. Call it the Potemkin Villager Olympics.

•  there, but for the grace of

  the powers that be...

  by Turkana on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:25:49 PM PDT

  •  We're next. Cheney will see to that.

    Except that he can't shut us up. We'll find a way, so will the Chinese bloggers, eventually.

    by Asinus Asinum Fricat on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:29:16 PM PDT

    •  we sometimes forget

      how lucky we still are. but it underscores why we need to hold the line, and push it back, now, before it gets worse.

      by Turkana on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:30:23 PM PDT

    •  oh please.

      by bugscuffle on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:30:47 PM PDT

      •  Please what? Perhaps you haven't read the news

        about all the Iranian internet cables having been, what, severed? You keep posting vacuous one-liners with little meaning (I'm being kind here, no more than three words, really). Explain yourself. Enlighten us to your visionary insight. Or STFU!

        by Asinus Asinum Fricat on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:42:26 PM PDT

        •  We're not "next"

          I don't know anything about Iranian interent cables except that a previous CT diary on that got the ridicule it deserve.  My vacuous one-liners are often quite popular.
          Dick Cheney   is not going to break your door down. If he wanted to (which I doubt) he has no institutional means to do so. To pretend he does is childish and damaging.  Yes, damaging. Why?  Because when those of us who are fortunate enough in democracies try, through AI or some other NGO, to stand up to the Burmese and Chinese thugs, it is not helpful that they can point to comments like yours and say, "See? You in live in a police state too.  Why don't you mind you own business first."

          by bugscuffle on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 06:17:32 PM PDT

          •  Well, at least your answer is more than

            a one-liner. Thanks.

            by Asinus Asinum Fricat on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 06:45:54 AM PDT

•  I wonder how the Olympic Committee can shame

  China a little here? Burma, that situation is a tragedy I'm not sure how to address.

  by betson08 on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:30:44 PM PDT

  •  the olympic committee

    has given china everything it wants.

    by Turkana on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:31:47 PM PDT

    •  The Olympic Committee has always been about

      the dollars. That's ALL they care about.

      by Shane Hensinger on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:44:07 PM PDT

      •  See Romney, Mitt.

        by madgranny on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 07:17:00 PM PDT

•  This is just awful

  Myanmar authorities have stepped up their surveillance of the Internet since the beginning of the month, pressuring Internet cafe owners to register personal details of all users and to program screen captures every five minutes on each computer, the release said.

  This data apparently is sent to the Ministry of Communications, it said.

  And the Ministry of Communications - doesn't that sound Orwellian?

     

  by CTLiberal on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:33:21 PM PDT

  •  sounds like the Department of Homeland Security.

    by haruki on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:38:31 PM PDT

•  Neighborhood of cards strategy.

  I've often felt that China's strategy seems to be to lend moral support to all the houses of cards out there, in hopes that if they don't collapse, there won't be any wind--even a slight one--from their collapse that would send their own house crashing down.

  Perhaps the best way we can deal with this is to point out all the times that has failed them; every time a crackdown opens the World's eyes or burdensome regulations slow business in one dictatorship they've supported or another.

  by Judge Moonbox on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 05:43:19 PM PDT

•  Aung San Suu Kyi

  has not been happy with the recent talks with the military.

  Burma

  by Pitias on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 06:23:20 PM PDT

•  Heh! Whenever I write about downtrodden folks in

  the far East or Arabic territories, there is this great disconnect here, not much interest from DKos posters.....is there an election on somewhere??

  by Asinus Asinum Fricat on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 06:54:11 PM PDT

•  The Chinese Regime sucks

  I visited there a couple of years ago and I was shocked when I realized that the internet was censored even in the hotel.   The Chinese government choses what sites to allow.  It is a fascist regime.

  by Blue Wind on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 07:39:34 PM PDT